NP has worked in a number of older industrial cities across the country. Many of these are struggling to rebuild their downtown core due to fundamental a chicken or egg dilemma: “I need amenities like retail and restaurants to get people downtown but without people already downtown how do I get restaurants and retail”?

NP advises our clients to take small, impactful interim steps to prove a market exists. For instance, recently NP worked on a restaurant incubator program for Brockton, MA. During the course of the study it became clear that the concept required too much capital for a market that wasn’t quite ready to fully believe in the downtown as a destination. So, we suggested an interim strategy around a low cost, pop up idea on an empty site.

​And what do you know – Prova! Brockton happens. The best part – Prova literally translates to “proof”. We love the crowd funding aspect to show community support, the low cost approach to design to reduce the risk of failure and activating an empty lot in a strategic location. We can’t wait til it opens.